Nomination

MrLanceVanceDance, please reply with whether you accept or decline this nomination, and why. If you accept, please answer the questions below.

I willingly accept this nomination. I am also willing to become an Administrator of Grand Theft Wiki.--MrLanceVanceDance 07:52, 9 August 2011 (BST)

Questions

Any user may ask a question here for the candidate to answer. Feel free to add extra questions based on their replies.

What do you think is the hardest thing for new editors to get the hang of (whether a technical skill, a policy or just the way we do things here); how would you spot they were having difficulty; and how would you help them? Maybe explain what was the hardest thing you've had to learn whilst being here?

The rules and copyright policies are the hardest part of the wiki to get the hang of. Adding links and categories is also something hard for new users. However, it is all about practice; the more the user edits on this wiki, the more fluent and good at editing they become, myself being an example.--MrLanceVanceDance 07:52, 9 August 2011 (BST)

Becoming staff isn't a reward for good edits, it's a job and a respoinsibility. How do you feel you could help us, and why should we promote you to become a Moderator?

I wish to be promoted to Administrator because that way, I can delete unneccessary pages and/or images, move pages and merge pages which are things a normal user cannot do. Also, sometimes articles have a "Proposed Deletion" tag, "Spam" tag, "Merge" tag and/or "Move" tag inserted, but they are ignored for a large amount of time. If I was promoted to Administrator, those before mentioned problems will be a thing of the past. Also, I think I am ready to take my edits and contributions to the Wiki another step higher. --MrLanceVanceDance 07:52, 9 August 2011 (BST)

Are there any little tasks, jobs or vendettas you perform around the wiki that you are particularly proud of?

I am proud of everything I have done for this wiki, although to be specific, I am proud of all the new articles that I have created for the Wiki and for all the times I found an unused image a home (an article in which the image relates to).--MrLanceVanceDance 07:52, 9 August 2011 (BST)

Could you give one example of what you think is one of the best pages on this wiki, and a brief explanation of why you chose that. It should probably be an informational article, but you could use a list or category or similar if you explain why.

Do you have any questions about the wiki, its staff or the role of a Moderator, or any final comments before we make our decision?

If you copy content from Wikia's GTA Wiki, do you have to provide attribution? (I am not going to obtain information from the other wiki if it is illegal, unlike WikisEditor from Wikia.)--MrLanceVanceDance 07:52, 9 August 2011 (BST)

Comments

Any user may leave a comment here, which will be considered before the decision is made.

MrLanceVanceDance seems very prominent with his edits, most of them consisting of a very good quality, this is simply by checking the recent edits page and his edits made in the last 30 days. He is redundant however in adding duplicate or unecessary images, which constantly results in mass edits being reverted. one example is this.[1] Despite this, he seemed to learn from his mistake after ZS informed him here but at a slow speed.

Overall, with his mass amount of devotion to making new detailed pages produced, quality edits and involvment in big contribution projects, In my personal opinion, I feel he has done just about enough to become a new member of staff. Just one tip would be to be very cautious and check that your edits of things such as images have not already been included. As well as this, please think why someone has reverted your edits before reveting them back. In other words, do not blindly edit. - Montario 15:02, 9 August 2011 (BST)

I'm not sure if he's ready. While MrLanceVanceDance demonstrates a penchant to contribute greatly to this wiki through the sheer number of individual edits made this month, the quantity doesn't completely translate to quality. While I can forgive his imperfect writing (Look at me; I happen to make plenty of spelling and grammatical errors myself as a result of repeated revisions and a lack of concentration), some of his well-intentioned edits may be problematic to the quality of articles.

As recent as August 8, I had to examine every recent edit that he made on pages on vehicles because thumbnails of rear quarter views of specific renditions of vehicles were posted unnecessarily on article where the option to view them through a link would be enough, and because redundant images are also added when they add nothing to the topic in question (like Fort Baxter Air Base for example); I've already notified him on the former, but I have yet to completely check his other edits from the same timeframe.

There are also a few occasions when he amends or adds paragraphs or sections with poorer comprehension (i.e. Sunshine Autos or PMP 600), which can be a pain to fix because he does add useful bits of information in the mix. The time spent checking for new bits of information in the new revision, coupled with reversions to the previous composition and adjustments to take into account these new additions could distract other editors from concentrating on other tasks.

I'm not against MrLanceVanceDance's eventual promotion. In fact, he has shown a lot of potential, and it would be great to have an extra hand seeing as there are only a few ardent staff members here. But he needs little more time familiarizing himself with this wiki's manual of style and quality assurance, and sharpening his writing skills; his feedback to this nomination demonstrates that he's willing to do so, so I'm confident that he'll make a good addition to the team.

I'll give him another month before a renomination is made. - ZS 03:33, 10 August 2011 (BST)

I agree with both comments above. MLVD has shown great promise and commitment to the wiki, and has shown himself a capable editor. However, I too have some concerns about the quality of some edits. The example stated above of adding unused images to articles, even when they added no value to the article, maybe shows either that he concentrated on one thing (using the images, without thinking about it), or simply that his idea of quality is different to ours. I am in two minds as to how to proceed here. I think MLVD would be a useful addition to the staff team, and could be trusted to carry out the role, but I would want to be more reassured that he will take the time to think things through and not be "blinkered" into one task.

MLVD - the best thing I could suggest would be for you to take on a more active role in the cleanup of articles. Once we see that you can identify pages in need of help, decide what should/shouldn't be in them, and make them look good; then there is no reason for me not to promote you directly to administrator. Perhaps you can look through Category:Cleanup and show us what you can do? But also - I'd want you to look at some good articles and try and copy our style, to help build up your knowledge of what is good/bad, and your instinct for what should/shouldn't be in articles. Feel free to ask lots of questions too, I'm happy to give you my opinion on whether you should do something or not, or how I think it should look.

Most of all, every time you edit, I want you to stop, preview it, read the article, and decide whether it all makes sense and looks good. If it doesn't, either fix it or tag it.

At the moment, I can't promote you to administrator, but I think I would be happy to promote you to Inspector as a first step. This will mean you are responsible for checking other users' edits, and you have the rollback tool (instant revert), and it gives you a prime opportunity to get stuck-in to the cleanup on this wiki. If you impress us, you can be promoted up to Administrator. Are you up for that challenge? gboyerstalk 05:24, 10 August 2011 (BST)

Yes, I am up to the challenge of being an Inspector of this Wiki.--MrLanceVanceDance 07:15, 10 August 2011 (BST)

I agree with the general flow of the discussion so far. MrLVD is a dedicated editor, who's edits are usually of a high quality, and who has contributed alot of content to the wiki. I have been considering this user for a staff position for a long time; and I previously assigned him the trusted user flag. MrLVD, If you have noticed that I revert some of your edits more often than I do other users, its not because I think that you're a bad user - In fact, its quite the opposite: As I have been considering you for a staff position, I have been watching alot of your edits. However, I agree with Montario that this user needs to consider why someone has reverted his edits. This is as simple as reading the edit summary. If he disagrees with the revert, then he should discuss it, rather than simply change it back.

Overall, I would be happy to see MrLVD become an Inspector while he continues to develop his knowledge of the wiki. I believe that he would be sufficient in this role, as he certainly has a good enough understanding of the wiki for patrolling rights and page moves. An eventual administrator promotion seems definite. JFletcherTalk(formerly User:Biggest gta fan ever) 11:04, 10 August 2011 (BST)

Votes

This section is for any user to formally list whether they are in favour of this promotion or not. Simply sign your name on a bullet point, add any comments into the comments section. This is NOT decided by a vote, but the results will be taken into consideration by the Managers. Remember, this is not whether you like the user, but whether they would be a good member of staff.

Outcome

Based on the user's contributions, answers above and other staff and user comments above, I have decided to promote this user to Inspector. I'm sure MrLVD has read the comments above, and knows what he has to do to make everyone 100% confident to promote him to Administrator, which could happen any time. I hope you enjoy your new role! gboyerstalk 17:23, 12 August 2011 (BST)